PRIMARY ENERGY RESOURCES INCREASED BY 1.5% IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2017

-In the first quarter of 2017, primary energy resources increased by 1.5%, while those of electricity increased by 0.9%.

Imports accounted for 35.8 pct of the main primary energy resources in Q1 2017, out of a total of over 8.46 million tonnes of oil equivalent, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) said in a release on Thursday.

"In the first quarter of 2017, primary energy resources increased by 1.5 pct and electricity resources advanced by 0.9 pct. The main primary energy resources in Q1 2017 totaled 8,463.3 thousand tonnes of oil equivalent (toe), up by 124.7 thousand toe versus the first quarter of 2016. The domestic output amounted to 5,433.5 thousand toe, down by 79.1 thousand toe from the same period of the previous year, and imports stood at 3,029.8 thousand toe," the document shows.

Electricity resources stood at over 18.464 billion kWh, up 167.7 million kWh compared with the first quarter of 2016.

The production of thermal power plants was 8,326 ml kWh, up 1,256.3 million KWh (+17.8 percent). The electricity production of hydropower plants was 3,772.2 million kWh, down 818.4 million kWh (-17.8 percent), while the Cernavoda nuclear power plant produced 3,003.6 million kWh, down 36.6 million kWh (- 1.2 percent).

The production of wind farms in Q1 2017 totaled 2,280.5 million kWh, up by 212.1 million kWh compared to the same period last year, while the photovoltaic energy produced in this period was 333.1 million kWh, up by 8.8 million kWh from Q1 2016.

Romania's final electricity consumption was in excess of 14.296 billion kWh, by 0.3 percent lower from the same period of the year before.

Public lighting consumption decreased by 6.6 percent and the consumption of the population advanced 1 percent. Electricity exports stood at 2.176 bln kWh, up by 110.3 million kWh. The power loss in networks and transformer stations was 1.993 bln kWh, by 98 million kWh higher YoY.